Professor Offers Global View Of Chemistry

Stan Anderson, Westmont chemistry professor, discusses the importance of chemistry while reflecting on his global career in a valedictory lecture, “Engaging the World Through Chemistry,” Wednesday, April 15, at 7 p.m. in Kerrwood Hall’s Hieronymus Lounge. The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

Anderson, who joined the Westmont faculty in 1978, will retire this year after spending a quarter of his academic career in foreign universities. He was a professor in Iran, Fulbright lecturer in Sudan, head of the chemistry department in Oman and a visiting professor in Egypt.

In 2003, Anderson received the prestigious National Research Council Senior Research Associateship award, funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Laboratory’s Propulsion Directorate at Edwards Air Force Base. He studied new silicon polymer materials, which have special properties for use in high-temperature environments and in space vehicle applications.

Anderson has published a diverse series of papers with his Westmont students on organometallic chemistry, electrochemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance of solid materials, and atmospheric chemistry.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Wheaton College and a doctorate in inorganic and physical chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana.